A detector and a computed tomography unit having a detector are known for example from DE 195 02 574 C2. In the known case, the detector is of rectangular configuration and aligned in a fashion situated opposite an x-ray emitter such that an x-radiation emanating from a focus of the x-ray emitter strikes the measuring field of the detector.
Detector and x-ray emitter can be set rotating about a system axis of the computed tomography unit via a rotary frame. When the computed tomography unit is being operated, during a rotation of the recording system a multiplicity of projections of an examination area from different rotary angle positions and/or from different projection directions are acquired in temporal succession in this way by a detector, and a downstream processing stage is used to produce tomograms or voxels from them by calculation.
The dimension of the detector is typically adapted with regard to a specific field of application of examinations. A detector adapted for examining a heart has, for example, a large extent in the direction of the system axis of the computed tomography unit in order to cover a large volume and to suppress movement artifacts. In turn, a large extent of the detector transverse to the direction of the system axis is required in examining the interior of a patient's body.
Moreover, DE 29,16,848 A1 also discloses computed tomography units having a number of recording systems arranged separately from one another. Each recording system respectively includes a detector and an x-ray emitter which simultaneously acquire projections from two different projection directions. Such computed tomography units having a number of recording systems are used whenever the aim is to carry out scanning of the examination area with an increased scanning rate.